1. Field of the Invention
The invention relates to electronic messaging and, more particularly, to electronic messaging by a group of participants.
2. Description of the Related Art
Group messaging is an invaluable communication tool. With group messaging, it is important for certain messages to be private in order to truly be a meaningful communication. For example, when a co-worker is retiring, one of the workers purchases a paper card and it gets passed throughout the office. The other workers in the office can sign the card and possibly handwrite a brief message. Any messages that are provided are available for the other co-workers to read. Hence, everyone tends to write the same sort of message—not getting too personal—because as the card is passed the other co-workers can (and often do) read the other messages. This largely diminishes the communication. More recently, electronic cards have become available. A person can access a website sponsoring electronic card, select a particular card and provide a message. Unfortunately, however, electronic cards (e.g., e-cards, e-mails) only permit a single sender to send an identical message to one or more recipients. An electronic card is also not able to be signed by multiple parties, nor can it contain private messages.
A gift can be provided with a physical card or an electronic card. However, those sending an electronic card do not conventionally have the ability to participate in a group gift or a charitable contribution. As a result, gifts and contributions become more difficult and time consuming which limits the amount of gifts or contributions that would otherwise be made.
Accordingly, conventional approaches to group messaging and gift or charitable giving is limited, which is a disservice to all parties involved. Thus, there is a need for improved approaches to provide group messages.